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I had an interesting conversation with a friend tonight and we talked about if we were 18 again, what would we have done financially different. I'm curious for a basic outline of what exactly you would do if you were 18 again knowing what you know now...
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I wouldnt have listened to my parents when it came to college........ I wish I had told them where to shove it when they said I need to go to a small school (I came from a small high school and hated it) , etc. I did everything for them and not for myself.
AS a result, I became severly depressed and have been battling with depression ever since. I don't think that would have happened if I listened to my "gut feeling" instead. Plus I know $$ was not an issue for them because it was not 3 years later when my sister went to one of the most expensive schools in the country.
That and I would have never opened a credit card for a free t-shirt on campus. -
My first thought is Nothing.
I thought of one thing, I would have maybe gone to community college 2 years before State. I could have saved maybe $5k or so in college.
But in general there is not much I would do different. A lot of my regrets financially go back to not investing my money better as a teen, etc., but college years were tight and frankly I don't think I could have done anything different. If you posed the question if I was 16, I would have invested my money in some mutual funds, or chased high yields on my money market. When I was 21 I would have invested better and the same. But at 18 I didn't really make any mistakes, through college. My parents taught me well about money, and I was working on an affordable degree for the perfect career for me when I Was 18, without incurring debt. Wouldn't change a thing. College was a better use than investing then.
I mean if you ask do I regret not going to community college, would I prefer that $5k in the bank? No - because it makes little difference to where I would be today, or where I was right out of college as I saved over 50% of my income and built up savings rather fast. But I could have worked a lot less through college, that is what the big thing is to me. I think back to why I wasted my money when community college would have sufficed?Comment
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Knowing what I know now, I most certainly would have done many things differently.
However, I've always tried to make the best decision that I can muster at that point in time. Therefore, given what little I knew and what I believed was the best option at the time, I don't think I COULD have done things any differently....
I may lament quite a bit about my past, but I don't regret the decisions I've personally made.Comment
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I would have never married in college just to get out of the house. I wish I had learned about investing and things like mutual funds; but no one taught me about those things. I am glad that I bought a house very young (21) and worked very very hard to pay it off when I was 32. that gave me a good start.Comment
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The main thing I would change is that I avoid credit card and other consumer debt. I, like so many young people, looked at making the payment rather than the long-term cost. It only took a few years of that attitude to result in many years of remaining in debt.
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At 18, I wouldn't have gotten sucked into a MLM, which is the only reason I had debt when coming out of undergrad.
When I was 23, I wouldn't have bought my first pickup on a whim with no research, which is the only reason I had debt when coming out of grad school. And I wouldn't have let my boyfriend at the time convince me to trade that same pickup in when I was 26 for a new one, which, along with the student loans I used to cover my other two mistakes, is the only personal debt I have - other than the mortgage, which wasn't a mistake.Comment
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umm, can't I go back a few years more?
No eh...ok fine
1. Open a retirement plan of some kind...any kind.
2. Learn how to balance a checkbook and pay off car faster.
That takes us to 19..when I moved here ... then I would continue the retirement, aim to pay off husbands CC at top speed, and save for house.
I kinda am trying to help my kids with that goal now by ingraining a 10-20 plan ...10% donation, 20% saving (10 retirement/10 saving when old enough) And by helping them see that debt is a terrible thing, house car or otherwise.Comment
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At age 18, I was managing my resources in order to get through college debt free-I can't say I would do anything diferent there.
This is a tricky question because they had not invented IRAs, 401's, index funds (for the average guy, anyway) or 529 plans when I was 18 (am I giving away my age?).
We've come a long way!
As far as investment mistakes (when I actually had some money to invest
).... I don't think I would invest in managed mutual funds or individual stocks (too many accounting details...) I think I would stick with index funds.
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I'd make saving for retirement a MUST do!!Comment
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I had to figure savings & investing out on my own, as my parents lived check to check. It took a while for me to figure out. A few early regrets:
1) Save more for retirement right off the bat & invest more aggressively. I didn't need to be in conservative funds at age 22.
2) I was working for a hi-tech company that went public in 1991. I bought a few shares with the IPO, but I wish I would have bought a ton. I did well with what I bought, but if I had more......Comment
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Nothing, really. I may say I wished I'd started my Roth at age 16 or so, but given I'd have been buying at 2000 stock prices, and was a senior in high school via 9/11, I probably would have lost enough money to dishearten me something fierce.Comment
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I wish I had not bought so many mutual funds and just stuck with index funds. I also wish I had not bought a bunch of tech stocks reccommended by different magazines.Comment
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I would not have taken as much as I did in student loans. BIG mistake.Comment
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Weird as it sounds, I would not have been so optimistic and farsighted. Through a lot of hard times I was too busy focused on how tomorrow would be better, rather than fighting hard through the tough times at hand. By being a little pessimistic, perhaps I would have planned for more disasters and expended energies into more productive endeavors. I hope this makes sense!
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